Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club is devastated after a large amount of their brand-new paddling gear was stolen over the weekend. 

“They were purchased because the team has qualified to attend the Club Crew World Championship which they will attend in Italy in September,” says Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club president Brooke Hargreaves.

The paddles of the Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers hold a lot of mana and are unique to the team, says Brooke.

The Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club and the Dragon Flyers are asking if anyone comes across any of these items for sale anywhere across social media to let them know. 

“A Hornet paddle bag with 20 new team racing paddles and paddling gear – along with personal items – have been stolen.

“There was also waka gear and waka paddles and life jackets.

“There was a set of Team Dragon boat carbon fibre paddles that were stolen, which is useless to anybody other than Dragon boaters.

“You can’t adapt them to any other sport.

“It’s labelled with a unique design and our team name, absolutely useless to anyone outside of DB paddling.

“They’re custom made and have the custom branding – the emblem of the team – of them.

Two of the stolen paddles. Photo supplied.

“That’s the biggest annoyance,” says Brooke. “They would’ve cost at least $6000 or $7000 just for a set of paddles. 

“We’re right in the middle of training. We just finished nationals a month ago.

“We’ve got the largest contingent going to Italy and Dragon Flyers is a portion of that.” 

Another lot of stolen gear was owned by a team member who has made it into the New Zealand team called the NZ Black Dragons. 

“In the gear that was stolen, there was a specific paddle for the Black Dragons. So for her to get that opportunity to be a Black Dragon and then have gear stolen, it sucks.”

Brooke says police reports have been done by the individuals whose gear it was from. 

“I had heard it was Karl’s [crew captain] car that had been taken and dumped, and then the gear had been removed.

“They had come onto the residence to do that, which is really unfortunate. 

“We’re not for profit, and we’re individual teams that fundraise really hard and the Dragon Flyer is one of many teams that are trying to get this money to go to Italy.”

Despite the cost of the stolen items, Brooke says the most annoying part is that the gear is specific to their sport.

“We’re such a close-knit community in New Zealand; we only have a few thousand paddlers nationwide.”

If you have any information on the stolen items please contact the Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club via their Facebook www.facebook.com/bopdragonboating.